Ya know, when people started speculating CDP Red would announce The Witcher 3 on the 5th of February, I was rather skeptical and was expecting simply more info on the REDKit modding tool for TW2...

Well, in my face!!

CDP Red has a good track record so far, so I probably shouldn't expect anything negative of TW3, but I can't help but think that - with less than two years since TW2 was released on the PC and less than a year since the Enhanced Edition was released on both PC and XBox - it's too soon to announce the third part. Not really sure what's the rush. However, if they think they can deliver, I'm willing to check it out.

Also, here are some screenshots and posters/covers I found in this thread on their official forums:

Show spoiler

(hidden content - requires Javascript to show)

People are already speculating that the hooded figure is most likely Ciri. At the moment, I'm inclined to agree.

Yay! Definitely looking forward for this one! Let's hope The Witcher 3 does not suffer from the "streamlining" other games have suffered and continues to take some risks... loved the chars and environments which were not "Disneyfied" or asceptised.

I'm not impressed that much, but it must be kept in mind this game is more Skyrim than The Witcher 2 from what we know. And while the grass and terrain looks very rough to say the least, the density of the tavern is impressive stuff - it reminds me of Metro 2033's dense interiors.

Foliage looks very 2D and a step back from games like Far Cry 3, or, well, Crysis 3. It seems there is volumetric blood from the combat screenshot. Looks delicious to the point of questionable (Human Revolution did something very similar).

Other than that, this game (and this studio) sounds like it'd make a great Skyrim 2. Or, well, Skyrim With Some Substance, at the least.

I had a brief poke around in it during closed beta. I recall it had a couple of interesting features, but I didn't really wrap my head around their workflow conventions in the limited time I spent with it. I think they have left it a bit late in the day, 2 years after the release of the game and with TW3 on the horizon. I'm hoping that TW3 support can be patched into it at some point in the future, otherwise it would seem like a waste of time and resources.

Charles Dance, the British actor and screenwriter best known for his roles in Alien 3, The Last Action Hero and Game of Thrones, will voice Emperor Emhyr var Emreis in The Witcher 3.

“Charles Dance is the perfect candidate to play the mighty Nilfgaardian emperor in our upcoming title. It’s a dream come true for the team here at RED to be able to work with such an accomplished actor and magnetic personality,” said Marcin Blacha, Lead Writer for the title.

Man...I really wish I could get into the first Witcher - it's so damn slow to start! The rest of the series looks like it's shaping up really well!

After getting through the intro of the first game, I quit complaining about how slow the intros for Dragon Age: Origins (upon leaving Ostagar) and Mass Effect (everything until you leave the Citadel) were. I haven't played it much since I left Kaer Morhen because I have to take it in tiny chunks at a time, but I love what little I've done.

I'm playing The Witcher 2 right now. I tried to get into the first game, but the combat was just so horrendous that I could not get into it. It kept pulling me away from the game, and eventually I just stopped playing it. The Witcher 2, however, is a vast improvement, with a better game-play system, and a better combat system than the original. It also has an engaging (if slow) storyline. I just got through the prologue, and that took more than 2 hours for me. I've only just started playing the actual main-game.

What I'm concerned about The Witcher 3 though is whether I'll be run it or not. I currently have a GTX 650 Ti card, and I'm able to play Witcher 2 on mostly ultra settings (ubersampling however kept making the game lag so I just turned it off) but considering that Witcher 3 is mostly aimed at new generation consoles, I don't know if I'll be able to run it on high graphic settings. I guess we'll just have to wait and see on that one.